Football: Defense rules the day in spring game

Stanford’s defense has lost Trent Murphy, Shayne Skov and Ed Reynolds, but it’s certainly still strong.

As for the Cardinal offense, well, there’s a lot of work to do before the opener, some five months away.

Those were some quick impressions from Saturday’s Cardinal @ White spring game. The defense didn’t allow a touchdown until Kevin Hogan threw late scoring passes of 13 yards to tight end Eric Cotton and seven to Devon Cajuste.

In a complicated scoring system, the White defense earned a 47-23 win over the Cardinal offense on Saturday at Stadium. In reality, it wasn’t that close. The defense clearly had the upper hand, as it has had most of the spring.

“Defensively we’re so good up front,’’ head coach David Shaw said. “A lot’s going to be said about the guys that are leaving, including (defensive coordinator) Derek Mason. But we have a veteran group up front that’s really tough to run the ball against. It’s really tough to pass-protect (against).’’

The reconstituted offensive line struggled against the likes of lineman Henry Anderson and linebackers like A.J. Tarpley, James Vaughters and sophomore Peter Kalambayi. The latter saw a lot of action on the outside in place of Kevin Anderson, who tweaked a leg injury in practice Friday.

Some schools like to choose teams and play normal football in their spring games. Stanford prefers to go offense against defense, with a jury-rigged system to allow the defense to score.

The offense started each series from its 35-yard line. The defense could earn seven points for causing a turnover before the offense reached the 50, three if it stopped the offense before the offense’s 45, two for a stop between the defense’s 45- and 31-yard lines and one for a missed field goal.

Yes, it was a little weird.

The defense built a 30-3 lead at halftime, buoyed by an early 40-yard interception return for a touchdown by backup cornerback Chandler Dorrell. At one point it was 30-9, and the only White scoring came on Jordan Williamson field goals of 39, 47 and 48 yards.

It looked like Williamson’s foot would provide the only scoring until Hogan connected on his two touchdown passes, both against the second unit.

“We started out a little slow,’’ Hogan said. “I was proud of the way we battled back and executed near the end.’’

Hogan and backup Ryan Burns each passed for 131 yards and threw an interception. Hogan completed 14 of 22 passes, and Burns was 12 for 25. Burns also fumbled back-to-back snaps in the final minutes, giving the defense a 14-point bonanza.

Shaw thought Hogan “executed his assignments well.’’ As for the inexperienced Burns, who missed the first half of spring drills for disciplinary reasons, “this is a tough defense to learn against,’’ Shaw said. “Every mistake you make is going to have a light shown on it.’’

The competition at running back seems to be boiling down to Kelsey Young vs. Barry Sanders, with Ricky Seale running third. Young sustained an arm injury and will have x-rays. Remound Wright missed the second half of spring drills for disciplinary reasons.

Sanders went 17 yards on a screen pass and had a 29-yard run.

“He’s going to make some wild plays; he’s going to make some highlight plays,’’ Shaw said.